Reko Rennie is a Kamilaroi artist based in Melbourne whose works explore issues of Aboriginal identity within an urban environment. His commanding works are largely biographical and combine the iconography of his Kamilaroi heritage with stylistic elements of graffiti and street art.
In No sleep till Dreamtime, Rennie will explore the notions of initiation, ceremony and the warrior, which are often only discussed in romaticised notions of Aboriginality or misconceived stereotypes that are attached to a static understanding of Aboriginal culture.
Rennie’s current regalia will feature heavily in the exhibition – the Aboriginal flag, the crown and the diamond – as a way of both asserting and questioning the sovereignty of Australia. The exhibition will build on his ongoing quest to remember the past to better understand the present and work towards a different future.
Reko Rennie – No sleep till Dreamtime
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery Rd, The Domain (Sydney)
Exhibition continues to 30 November 2014
Free entry
For more information, visit: www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au for details.
Image: Reko Rennie 2014 No sleep till Dreamtime (detail), birch plywood, metallic textile foil, synthetic polymer, diamond dust, gold leaf. Courtesy of the artist and Blackartprojects